{"id":45765,"date":"2008-02-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/mothers-unanswered-questions\/"},"modified":"2008-02-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-04T00:00:00","slug":"mothers-unanswered-questions","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/mothers-unanswered-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother&#8217;s Unanswered Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>These are the unanswered questions of Martina Phillips, a mother with a wayward son whom she hasn&#39;t seen for four years:<\/p>\n\n<p><em><strong>How<\/strong><\/em>\nHow does a parent, who has prayed daily, deal with the rebellion of a child?<\/p>\n\n<p>How does a loving parent accept the rejection of her offspring?<\/p>\n\n<p>How does a parent keep from giving up hope?<\/p>\n\n<p>How does a parent resist envy and bitterness when other people&#39;s children progress?<\/p>\n\n<p><em><strong>Why<\/strong><\/em>\nWhy does free will have to take us so far from God?<\/p>\n\n<p>Why is it so hard to accept that this might be part of the Master&#39;s plan?<\/p>\n\n<p>Why do the happy parents never ask about the unhappy ones?<\/p>\n\n<p>Why do children see loving parents as their enemies?<\/p>\n\n<p>Why are these children choosing the wrong path first?<\/p>\n\n<p>Why are they so selfish?<\/p>\n\n<p><em><strong>Where<\/strong><\/em>\nWhere is all of this chaos going?<\/p>\n\n<p>Where are the answers?<\/p>\n\n<p>Where is the glimmer of hope?<\/p>\n\n<p>Where are the others who are needed to walk alongside?<\/p>\n\n<p>Where can a parent find comfort?<\/p>\n\n<p>Where does a parent learn to understand this pain?<\/p>\n\n<p>Where do the tears go that are shed for these wayward children?<\/p>\n\n<p><em><strong>What<\/strong><\/em>\nWhat is the parent of a wayward child to do?<\/p>\n\n<p>What does a parent do to dispel her fears?<\/p>\n\n<p>What next?<\/p>\n\n<p>What can I say?<\/p>\n\n<p>What can I do?<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[310],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[440],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3569,3636,3673,3933,3960,3967,3968,3971,3977,4017,4091,4167,4271,4495,4496,4497,4519,4584,4596,4597,4631,4679,4736,4752,4772,4790,4905,5130,5191,5195,5201,5277,5314],"tax_ctp_topics":[378],"class_list":["post-45765","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-comfort","tax_ctp_tags-connecting-with-hearers","tax_ctp_tags-faith","tax_ctp_tags-family","tax_ctp_tags-fathers-day","tax_ctp_tags-fatherhood","tax_ctp_tags-fathers","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-death","tax_ctp_tags-free-will","tax_ctp_tags-grandparents-day","tax_ctp_tags-hope","tax_ctp_tags-international-day-of-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-mothers-day","tax_ctp_tags-motherhood","tax_ctp_tags-mothers","tax_ctp_tags-national-day-of-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-pain","tax_ctp_tags-parenting","tax_ctp_tags-parents","tax_ctp_tags-persistence-in-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-providence","tax_ctp_tags-questions","tax_ctp_tags-rebellion","tax_ctp_tags-rejection","tax_ctp_tags-see-you-at-the-pole","tax_ctp_tags-teens","tax_ctp_tags-trial","tax_ctp_tags-trust","tax_ctp_tags-unanswered-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-will-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-youth"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mother&#039;s Unanswered Questions - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/mothers-unanswered-questions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mother&#039;s Unanswered Questions - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These are the unanswered questions of Martina Phillips, a mother with a wayward son whom she hasn&#039;t seen for four years: How How does a parent, who has prayed daily, deal with the rebellion of a child? 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